Mirah Riben on Revictimizing the Victim

The following is an essay by fellow flea Mirah Riben about the continued victimization of Masha Allen. Poor adoption practice does not result in a one time injury, but sets up a situation in which children continue to be hurt emotionally, physically, relationally, and psychologically for years to come. In some cases poor adoption practice makes children vulnerable to continuing exploitation for years and decades to come....even for a lifetime.

Please read Mirah's essay and join us in trying to fight this continued exploitation of one adoptee whose nightmare began with poor adoption practice....and never seems to end...by writing to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble and expressing your outrage.

If enough people care enough to write, perhaps this ugly chapter in this adoptee's exploitation can be shortened.

Desiree

Revictimizing the Victim

by Mirah Riben

Imagine at the age of five leaving everything you've ever known and
coming to a new country, with a totally different language, all
alone. You are told you will have a new family to love and care for
you and instead, you discover on your very first night that you
don't even have your won room or even your own bed but are expected
to share a bed with a 46-year-old pedophile who will rape you
repeatedly at will for years on end. Afraid to ask for help, you
wait and wait for someone to come to check up on you and take you
from this nightmare of abuse. Post-placement supervision is required
in Pennsylvania, where Masha lived with Mancuso, but only for
domestic adoptions from foster care. However, no such law exists for
international placement in violation of Russian regulations for post-
placement visits and reports.

The international trafficking and sale of this little girl,
Masha, to pedophile pornographer Matthew Mancuso goes under the
heading a legal US adoption. Mancuso, a retired engineer from Plum,
Pennsylvania, found his victim, Masha through an adoption agency in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Mancuso requested a five- or six-year-old,
blonde, blue-eyed girl and picked Masha from videotapes the agency
sent him.
Jeannene Smith handled Masha's adoption through an Indiana-based
agency called Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA). Fired by
FTIA midway through the process, Smith went to New Jersey and
founded another agency, Reaching Out Thru International Adoption
(ROTIA), which finished the adoption and was supposed to do post-
placement checks as required by Russian law.
No one associated with the agencies in either Indiana or New
Jersey conducted a home study that would have revealed no room
awaiting the child he planned to "adopt." Nor did anyone at either
agency interview Mancuso's former wife, or his daughter, who alleges
that he molested her. Smith has since co-founded a lobbying group
called Focus on Adoption, which lobbies on behalf of agencies that
facilitate international adoptions. She has not commented on the
case publicly, citing confidentiality laws.
Masha is not the only child to be trafficked and sold to a
pedophile through a US adoption agency. William (Bill) D.
Peckenpaugh, from Marion County, Oregon, traveled to Romania to
adopt a nine-year-old boy in 2001 through Tree of Life Adoption
Center of Portland, Oregon.
Peckenpaugh, who claimed to be a Catholic bishop, was a member
of the American Association for Nude Recreation. He is also the
author of "Familial and Societal Attitudes toward Nudity, and the
Effects on Children's Development," an article quoted by nudists and
naturists alleging that naturist children are less sexually active
and more emotionally healthy than non-naturist children.
As with Masha, the crime was discovered only after a sexually
graphic video was found in a camera that had been returned to an
electronics store. Peckenpaugh pleaded guilty to a total of thirty-
three charges, including first-degree sodomy, two counts of sex
abuse, and one count of using a child for the purpose of sexual
display, and was sentenced in 2005 to thirty years in prison. Darin
Tweedt of the Marion County D.A.'s office called the Romanian boy's
tragic journey from an East European orphanage to a life of sex
abuse in Marion County "off the charts."

Masha was rescued in an FBI sting porn sting that had followed
pictures of on the Internet for years. At thirteen years of age,
with pictures of her still online, she had the courage to go public,
in an effort to urge abused children to tell someone. Masha worked
with lawmakers to forge a bill known as "Masha's Law." The bill was
introduced by John F. Kerry (D-MA) in recognition of the fact that
child pornography "prolongs the child abuse indefinitely—long after
the child is rescued." The bill has passed but the abuse lingers
on. "My pictures that are on the Internet disturb me more than what
Matthew did because I know that the abuse stopped but those pictures
are still on the Internet" Masha said in a Prime Time Live
interview, January 2006.

Another victim of childhood sexual abuse from stepfather would
up a 70-pound anorexic at age 21. She found her way through
charitable organizations, she found her way to Judge Cheryl Allen of
Pennsylvania who took her into her home and helped her get
rehabilitation, a job, then within three years approval as a foster
parent. The grateful woman took the name Faith Elezabeth Allen.
The third child given to Faith Allen to foster was none other
than Masha, then 11-years-old. Judge Allen thinking the two could
help heal one another's sexual abuses, finalized the adoption and
Masha became Mea (Masha Elizabeth Allen) Allen.
But this tale of abuse does not end here with happily-ever-after.
Masha aka Mea Allen is yet to be raped abused all over again by
one Peter Stotis, a writer of sadistic and pedophilic sexual
impulses in their many, often hidden, guises. Often using first
person narratives, his prose takes on the point of view of the
sexual predator. Sotos's newest book, Show Adult, composed of two
film-scripts, the first about editing and content, the second
concerned with acting, direction, and instructions/vanity. Sotos,
who considers Masha Allen "a child porn star," reportedly devotes a
large portion of the book to her past, present and future
exploitation.

Masha is the only living victim of child pornography Sotos has
written about. The author is silent about whether or not he obtained
the legal rights to Masha's story or the use of her name and
likeness in advertising the book. Such unauthorized use is illegal
under the New York Civil Rights law which permits an injunction on
publication and monetary damages.

As of this writing, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com are both—
incredibly—taking pre-publication orders for the book which profits
from and continued the sexploitation of innocent victims.
We need to stop the spread of child pornography and we need to
create regulations to ensure that no child is sold as a sex slave
through the process of adoption in this country.

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or
congress people:
Boycott "Show Adult" and tell Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to cease
sales of the book

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional
reps and local newspapers

www.AdvocatePublications.com


Author of "shedding light on...The Dark Side of Adoption" (1988)
and "The Stork Market: America's Multi-Billion Dollar Unregulated
Adoptuion Industry" (2007) www.AdvocatePublciations.org

MIRAH (aka Marsha) RIBEN has been researching, writing and speaking
about the need to reform, humanize, and de-commercialize American
adoption practices for nearly three decades.

Former Director-at-Large of the American Adoption Congress, is co-
founder of Origins, a New Jersey-based national organization for
women who have lost children to adoption.

Mozambique: International Adoption a Cover-up for Sex/Labor Traffickers

According to Lurdes Mabunda, head of the Department of Women and Children in the Ministry of the Interior in Mozambique, international adoption is being used by human traffickers as a false cover to legally smuggle children out of Mozambique for use in the slavery and sex trades. This is possible both because Mozambique has "weak adoption laws" and also because Mozambique has itself, per se, no laws against human trafficking, whether for sex, labor, or adoption.

Mozambique acts both as a source of women and children for sex/labor traffickers and also a transit stop for women and children that have been trafficked from across the African continent.

As far as Mozambique as a source of trafficked person, it is estimated that at least 1000 Mozambican women and children are trafficked to South Africa alone each year for sexual exploitation. Even more women and children fall victim to sexual and slavery each year within Mozambique itself.

Mozambique's children, especially those from rural areas, are easy prey for traffickers because many Mozambican families are extremely poor. With little in the way of opportunities for education and jobs, families are eager to provide a better life for their children. They are also far too trusting of those who appear to "help" them.

"They are easily deceived because of their poverty and they think their children will be given jobs and then take them out of poverty" said Nelly Simbine Chimedza, Counter Trafficking Programme Assistant of Mozambique's International Organization on Migration

Several cases involving the abuse and exploitation of adopted Mozambican children have come to light in the last few years including at least two cases in which Mozambican children who were adopted into the US were allegedly abused and then abandoned, and a case in which a Mozambican girl was adopted into Germany and then apparently, subsequently "disappeared."

Additionally Mozambican officials recently scuttled the international adoption of a Mozambican child by a Spanish based organization after "'suspicious behavior' was observed."

Mozambican officials are nervous about international adoption, which has been on the rise in Mozambique for the past several years, based both on these cases and the reports of its use by human traffickers.

"We do not have the capacity to monitor the welfare of Mozambican children who have been adopted by foreign nationals living outside of the country, and this is a cause for concern"

--Lurdes Mabunda, head of the Department of Women and Children in the Ministry of the Interior in Mozambique

Human traffickers thrive in Mozambique, Citizen.co.za, 03/27/07

,Trafficking thriving in Moz, Sunday Times, 03/28/07

Desiree

Nepal: Orphanage Director Arrested for Sexual Abuse

In February, Henk Molhuysen, the Dutch director of a Nepali orphanage was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing children in his care.

Local Nepali police investigating the case reportedly believe that Molhuysen may have abused "almost all of the 48 children" in the home.

A few weeks after his arrest, press reports confirmed that this man had had earlier convictions for child abuse including one in Spain in 1995 for child rape. He had received an eight year prison sentence for this crime, but apparently did not serve the whole term. Instead, he was returned to the Netherlands where he was released by Dutch authorities two years later.

Molhuysen founded the orphanage--a home for Nepali street children--in Nepal six years later, in 2003. The home is financed by a Dutch foundation.

Initially there was worry that the abused children would end up back on the streets after Molhuysen's arrest, but Childright, another NGO, said that it would keep this from happening. A 19 year old Dutch volunteer assumed directorship of the orphanage after Molhuysen's arrest.

NL charity in Nepal child sex abuse probe, Dutch News.nl, 02/16/07

Abuse suspect has previous convictions, Dutch News.nl, 02/28/07

Desiree

Masha Allen Congressional Transcripts Available

The transcripts of the congressional testimony in the Masha Allen case are now available in the public record.

For those who don't know, Masha Allen is a teenager who was adopted at the age of 5 from Russia into the US by a single male pedophile. Masha was sexually abused for five years and also became the subject of child pornography.

For many years law enforcement officers saw her photos circulate on the internet (they watched her grow up in these photos but were unable to locate her to rescue her).

At one point they removed her from one of the photos (where she appeared
to be in a hotel room ) and posted the photo on the internet hoping that someone could identity the place. The place was identified as Disney World and from then on the little girl became known as the "Disney World Girl."

The break in the case came when a law enforcement officer, posing as a pornographer, engaged a child pornographer on the internet. Through this contact, law enforcement officers were able to trace a location for what they thought was just another pornographer. However, when FBI agents arrived to arrest him, they were astonished to find not just the pornographer, but also the child they had sought for so long--Disney World Girl--Masha. They were also astonished to find that Masha had been internationally adopted by this pedophile through normal, legal adoption channels.

Masha, who was subsequently readopted by another family and who is now a teenager, has been bravely speaking out for several years now.

Masha's case has been before US Congressal committess on at least two separate ocassions. The first time, Masha herself testified against child pornography as a child victim. In the process of these hearings, the part that the negligent adoption industry played in her victimization was revealed. The committee was so disturbed about the way that Masha fell into the hands of a pedophile--through the normal international process--that they determined to hold a separate hearing on just that issue.


Subsequently, the US Congressional committee brought everyone involved in Masha's adoption to a committee hearing--a hearing to specifically determine just how this little girl could have been placed with a single male pedophile, to determine why the post placement visits (and reports) that Russia requires for all adoptions, never happened (well, OK, someone called Mancuso on the telephone and based on that phone call a report was filed assuring theRussian government that Masha was in a "warm and loving" home...ugh...), and finally to determine if Masha's adoption placement with a pedophile was simply a freak accident or whether something was lacking (and could be fixed) in the adoption process and procedures themselves.

The transcripts of the hearing represent the testimony, the questioning and the answers of those in the adoption industry that were involved in Masha's adoption, as well as the testimony of those who could shed light on what went wrong and what could be done to change the system to safeguard adoptive children.

They make for pretty damning reading in regard to the way the adoption industry works. (Or should I say fails to work...to protect children).

You can access the transcripts of the Congressional testimony on these sites:

1) The first site takes a LONG time to load as it is a pdf of 191pages. It includes a LOT of supplementary documents:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.pdf

2)The second site loads much quicker. It isn't as well formatted, however, and doesn't contain any supplementary material:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:31471.wais

Read and be disturbed.

But most of all read and be educated as to the "quality" and "safeguards" of current adoption practice.

And think about the awful, five year long nightmare that one little girl lived as a direct consequence of poor, sloppy adoption practice.

Oh, and BTW, because there is really no effective way to completely remove any particular child porn image from distribution once it has multiplied on the internet, Masha's child porn photos are still out there, circulating in the internet underworld of pedophiles. According to one law enforcement officer, they find at least one photo of Masha among the child porn photos in about half of the child porn arrests.

The legacy of poor adoption practice is something that will haunt Masha one way or another for the rest of her life.

Desiree